


Last Defense

by ShellShaded (KuuCooCaChoo)



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Amaurot (Final Fantasy XIV), Amaurotines (Final Fantasy XIV), Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 06:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23967238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KuuCooCaChoo/pseuds/ShellShaded
Summary: The average citizens of Amaurot face the end of their world, together. I explored the idea of Amaurotines as a people, rather than a specific named character. This group studied under Mitron, and they use water magic to protect Amaurot as best they can.First featured in Ktísis: A Final Fantasy XIV Fanzine!"Content focuses on the Amaurotine people and the Ascians with motifs surrounding their powers of creation and the value of protecting the world we all live in- new and old." - the zine
Kudos: 3
Collections: Ktísis: A Final Fantasy XIV Fanzine





	Last Defense

**Author's Note:**

> Ktísis: A Final Fantasy XIV Fanzine raised $2000 USD for Wildlife Rescue South Coast in Australia! Now that sales have ended, I'm posting my piece here.
> 
> I wanted to show the unity and beauty of Ancients as a people, so I didn't focus much on a specific character that we knew (Convocation members, etc).
> 
> Also, quick shout-out to dragonsong/Kiri, a friendly person in the Amaurotine Zine Discord who brainstormed with me a little and helped get the ball rolling. <3

Mitron left with the rest of the Convocation to defend Amaurot,   
and the people of Akadaemia Anyder resolved to protect those who remained.

The professor was the first to step into the sea. Her dark robes billowed around her knees, fabric pooling like ink in the starlight. Amaurot’s final night had fallen, and the glow of skyscrapers lit up the shore.

“Will this be enough?” asked a student.

His voice was small, unsure. She could feel his stare on her back, and the gazes of all her students. She looked over her shoulder at the cluster of young ones, silhouetted against the city. Their masks couldn’t hide their distress.

"I don't know," she said softly.

The professor lowered her palm, fingertips grazing the water. The sea stilled; the sound of waves vanished. Her body hummed with the energy of creation, and the air around her shimmered with aether.

"We will do all we can."

Life flowed through her like fluid, and as she stiffened her hand, the ocean churned once more:  
Own heartbeat paused as she directed the flow;  
To and fro, like the tide, energy gathered and drifted away, exposing the sand under her feet;  
Life pumped through her veins, through her fingers, bursting like a wave from a pinprick;  
Blossoming no blood, but a stream of coral, each finger reaching with a tiny red branch.

She thought of her own teacher, Mitron, and those she taught now, and all those who would be taught creation magicks in the future.

Arms of coral enveloped her own and shot out to sea, growing larger and longer and higher and broader. Ruby branches lifted the water into the air, erecting a waterfall, rapidly swelling to the size of a building and beyond. Sea creatures swept up from the ocean floated through the rushing screen of water, like an aquarium suspended in the sky, stretching for miles.

The professor smiled. She recognized that fish, that plesiosaur, that shark--a beautiful parade of creations, some born before her time, and some newer concepts that her own students toiled over. Each unique, each perfect in their own way, like every resident of Amaurot… The coral around her hardened like stone, like bones growing outside of herself, and she slumped forward--but was pulled back by hands on her shoulders.

Her students stood beside her. Together, they held her up, and added their own blooms of life to the growing reef. “We can do this,” another student whispered. They gave the professor a comforting squeeze before releasing her, then outstretched their hand, guiding anemones up from the churning salt water.

A spectrum of shapes and prismatic colors webbed together as the rest of the students joined the craft. They and their magicks knotted together like tree roots, growing up and out as a canopy of sponge crested over their heads. The sky changed from deep blue, to purple, to red. Not a lush red like the professor’s creations, but a red that heralded the end. Discs of coral linked and the ceiling blocked the sight.

When the meteors fell and people came running, screaming, crying from Amaurot,  
they would find refuge at the shore.  
When those who succumbed to fear gave substance to their demons,  
they would fight and stand their ground.  
When the ocean boiled and seared their barrier, and fire threatened them from all sides,  
they would rebuild their defense with all the life they had left.

They believed in the Convocation.

The students of Akadaemia Anyder and the people of Amaurot would hang on  
just a little while longer  
even as bodies fell around them  
and when the shelter of coral above finally faltered, crumbled and shattered, the moon was exposed, glowing brighter than the burning sky. Its lilac hue was a flare signalling their success.

A pulse erupted from the astral body, so mighty that it rippled time and space, rattling their souls. Rampant flames became wisps of smoke in its wake. Meteors froze midair, extinguished, and collapsed to dust. The professor and her students shivered as a new universal law settled into them, into everything, and doused their terror with relief. 

Snow-like ash fell from the lifeless sky, blanketing the bleached coral reef and skeletons of buildings. The sandy shore was unable to withstand the heat and now, frozen to glass, reflected the moon. Zodiark's light halted the terminal sickness of their star. The burst of energy chilled the sea and swelled the ocean waves one last time, then the water stilled, grey and stagnant. Bodies of creatures floated to the surface. The professor fell to her knees, glass cracking under her.

_Our barrier was barely enough_ , she thought. _Barely._

Mask tossed aside, face buried in her hands, she felt empty. Her aether was dim and her heart tired, but for a moment, she and the survivors could rest.

**Author's Note:**

> (And then another half of their population had to sacrifice themselves, but you know.)


End file.
